Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps (CAN) win the Pairs Free Skating at the ISU Grand Prix in Chongqing, China © ISU
Top favorites Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps claimed their second Grand Prix gold medal this season as competition wrapped up at the ISU Grand Prix Cup of ChinaSaturday in Chongqing (CHN). The Cup of China is the fourth of six events of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series that features the best Figure Skaters of the world. They compete and collect points hoping to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2023/24 in Beijing (CHN) on December 7-10.
Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps (CAN) golden again
Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps of Canada claimed their second consecutive Grand Prix gold medal this season and qualified for the Final for the second time. Italians Rebecca Ghilardi/Filippo Ambrosini skated to the silver medal while the new Chinese team Cheng Peng/Lei Wang made the home crowd proud by earning the bronze medal.
It was a night of vampires and sorcerers in Chongqing with Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps skating to “Interview with the vampire”, Ghilardi/Ambrosini interpreting “Dracula” and Peng/Wang going for “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”
Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps’s intense program was highlighted by a triple twist, side by side triple toe-single Axel-double Axel sequence and two level-four lifts. However, Deschamps stumbled on the triple Salchow and the team aborted the last lift. Nevertheless, the Canadian Champions won the Free Skating segment with 131.09 points and accumulated 201.48 points for a confident victory with 10 points to spare.
“Today was a little hard,” Deschamps admitted. “We were exhausted at the start of the program and it was fight from beginning to the end, but we are happy with the outcome.
“Now we are looking forward to two days off before we start to prepare for the Final,” he continued. “We have all Vampire themes, but there are different stories and we all build our own story,” he said.
“We are happy our three weeks marathon of competitions and travel is over,” Stellato-Dudek said. “We will check the protocols to see where we can improve. This week was a test to our mental and physical strength.”
Ghilardi/Ambrosini completed a triple twist, difficult lift and throw triple Lutz and Salchow, all while telling the story of Dracula. Ghilardi fell on the side by side Salchow, however.
Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini (ITA) in the Pairs Free Skating at the ISU Grand Prix in Chongqing, China © ISU
The ISU European silver medalists picked up 124.67 points which added up to 191.00 points.
“It was hard today, and we are proud of our performance, and how we pushed until the end of the program,” Ghilardi said. “It is interesting music. We do it one way, the other teams do it in a different style,” she added.
“We are very happy to skate like Dracula,” Ambrosini said. “We performed our program from the beginning to the end.”
Peng/Wang had to overcome his fall on the triple toe at the beginning of the program, but recovered to produce a triple twist, throw triple loop and Salchow. The Shanghai Trophy Champions earned 115.15 points for a total of 178.06 points.
Cheng Peng and Lei Wang (CHN) in the Pairs Free Skating at the ISU Grand Prix in Chongqing, China © Fred Lee/ Getty
Skate America Champions Annika Hocke/Robert Kunkel (GER) remained in fourth place at 170.65 points followed by Siyang Zhang/Yongchao Yang (CHN) at 161.65 points.
Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps qualified for their second consecutive ISU Grand Prix Final with the maximum of 30 points from two victories. Ghilardi/Ambrosini have 13 points and will try to qualify at the NHK Trophy in two weeks. Peng/Wang take their 11 points to their second event next week at the Grand Prix Espoo (FIN).
Hocke/Kunkel have 24 points from their two events and will have to wait and see if that is enough to make it to the Final.
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series consists of six events: Skate America, Skate Canada International, Grand Prix de France, Cup of China, the Grand Prix Espoo (FIN) and NHK Trophy (JPN). Skaters collect points towards to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2023/24 in Beijing (CHN).
ISU Grand Prix Standings
For full entry lists and further information regarding the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series please visit here.
All Media Accreditations details and deadlines for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series can be found here.
Where to Watch
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating events will be live streamed with English commentary on the official ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating YouTube Channel in most countries. Find out Where to watch the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating competitions.
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ISU Grand Prix Schedule
The schedules of each ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating events are available below:
20 - 22 Oct, 2023 Skate America, Allen (Texas, USA)
27 – 29 Oct, 2023 Skate Canada International, Vancouver (CAN)
03 - 05 Nov, 2023 Grand Prix de France, Angers (FRA)
10 - 12 Nov, 2023 Grand Prix Cup of China, Chongqing (CHN)
17 - 19 Nov, 2023 Grand Prix Espoo, Espoo (FIN)
24 - 26 Nov, 2023 NHK Trophy, Osaka (JPN)
07 - 10 Dec, 2023 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, Beijing (CHN)
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